Belgium, March 21, 2007

Experienced Dutch dominance in Belgian semi-classic

Van Bon grabs first win after leaving pink army

Dutchman Leon Van Bon (Rabobank) won Nokere Koerse - the first in a long series
of Flemish classic - from a small group that splintered from the large breakaway
of the day. The 35 year-old Dutchman rode in solo after dropping his two year
older compatriot Aart Vierhouten (Skil – Shimano) and Belgian neo-pro Geert
Steurs (Predictor – Lotto) in the ultimate lap.

The three riders were the only survivors of the big breakaway that dominated
the 62th edition of the semi-classic. The three managed to get away from the
group on the local circuit of 15km around Nokere, which the riders completed
ten times. Each lap featured the cobbled Nokereberg climb, and neo-pro Steurs
had to let go of his more experienced colleagues on this typical Flemish climb
by the end of the penultimate lap.

Van Bon attacked Vierhouten in the final lap and easily grabbed his first win
of the season. With this victory in a semi-classic, Van Bon is able to thank
his new team for the confidence they had in him. Van Bon left the Belgian Lotto
team after not being selected for the 1996 edition of the Tour de France. Van
Bon is showing that he can still turn his experience into valuable wins and
he will be looking forward to his real goal of the season, Paris-Roubaix. Steurs
managed to hold on to his third place with the chasing group right on his wheel.
The uphill sprint for fourth place was won by his team-mate and fellow neo-pro
Greg Van Avermaet, winner of stage
five of the Tour of Qatar.

How it unfolded

Twenty six riders managed to get away from the peloton after 55 kilometres of
racing. There was a crash with Sebastian Langeveld (Rabobank) and Aart Vierhouten,
with only the latter able to continue the race while Langeveld was brought over
to hospital with a wrist injury. The group stayed together when entering the local
circuit until Johan Coenen (Unibet.com) attacked with four laps to go.

Vierhouten and Cedric Vasseur joined the Belgian, but the three didn't get
far and were joined by a part of the former breakaway group. With 35 kilometres
to go Vierhouten was in the attack again together with Steurs. Van Bon, wisely
seeing the move as the decisive split, bridged up to the pair.

With 15 kilometres to go the trio had 50” on a group of ten riders, but by
then Steurs had to let go of the two experienced Dutch riders. Van Bon didn't
wait for the ultimate Nokereberg climb towards the finish, and attacked Vierhouten
with a blistering acceleration. Van Bon kept the furious pace, and was able
to rack up the victory in Nokere. Vierhouten finished second ahead of Steurs
who had to work hard to save his third place ahead of team-mate Greg Van Avermaet.